Most football fans would only be able to dream of playing on the field of their favorite team.
That dream is Chris Cromer’s reality and this week, that dream will come true for a second time.
Cromer will participate, for the second straight year, in the 2008 Notre Dame Football Fantasy Camp held on the Fighting Irish’s campus in South Bend, Ind.
After last year’s camp, the Rome resident said he was “blown away.”
“I’ve been to Notre Dame before, but never in this capacity,” Cromer added.
The camp is a five-day event where participants are treated like a real football team. The fourth day, June 28, features a 60-minute flag football game between a blue team and a gold team. Notre Dame’s coaching staff picks the teams. The team Cromer was on last year won 7-0.
Prior to the game, the players are put through four practices, but also get to take part in various meetings and dinners and also a tour of the College Football Hall of Fame.
A total of 43 players all classed from freshman to senior, depending on how many times they’ve attended, will take part in the event. The oldest of which is 71.
The camp was started by Patrick Steenberge of Global Football. The former Fighting Irish quarterback set up the camp to offer the opportunity for fans to interact with current and former Notre Dame coaches and players, and feel like they’re part of the team.
The players are given the full Notre Dame experience, complete with apparel and their own spot in the locker room.
“To walk in the stadium locker room and see your name on a nameplate, just like a real player — the fact that it was Notre Dame made it big,” Cromer said. “For me to able to be in the locker room, the practice field, the stadium with former players and coaches, and to listen to Charlie Weiss speak, it was big for me.
“This is the only (fantasy camp) where you’re treated like a real football player,” he added. “From the time you walk in and the time you leave, you’re amazed at how awesome they treat you.”
He got the idea to attend a camp from an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld that highlights Kramer attending a New York Yankees camp.
He liked the idea, but was hoping to one day hear about a football camp.
That opportunity came when he happened upon an advertisement for the camp online.
After a couple of years of things getting in the way, he was finally able to attend in 2007.
Cromer attributes his love of Notre Dame to his grandfather.
“I just grew up a fan of Notre Dame,” he said. “My grandfather was a fan. I was mostly interested in the history and success of Notre Dame.”
Cromer’s interest in Notre Dame is clearly evident with a trip to his downtown Rome office, which is decorated with all manner of sports memorabilia. A look at a row of shelves near the door will show his endearment towards the Fighting Irish.
Cromer’s high school football career also helped to fuel his admiration of the team.
While he was a lineman for the Cedartown Bulldogs from 1985-88, then-head coach John Hill referred to his team as the Red, Silver and Black of Notre Dame. His family shares his love of football.
Cromer and his wife Sherrie’s sons, John (8), Drew (6) and Patrick (3) all have different favorite teams — Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. The family, who has a daughter on the way, mimics a football field in their backyard every year, complete with goal posts, mid-field team logo and end zone logos. Currently, there’s a Crimson Tide theme, but Cromer says they’re probably going to go back to a Georgia field this year.
While Cromer didn’t attend Notre Dame — his college career taking place at Jacksonville State — he said you don’t have to be a Notre Dame graduate to get to spend time in the university’s famous stadium.
“The guys at the camp, only about five percent of them went to Notre Dame,” he said. “There’s nothing like it if you’re a Notre Dame fan.”
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